duty at the rates of 50 cents per pound and 35 per centum ad valorem (less 10 per cent.) on "all manufactures of wool, of every description, made wholly or in part of wool, not herein otherwise provided for."— (Letter to Collector, New York, May 4, 1874.) Appeal, 2317 b. (1824.) Cigar-stamp accounts and property returns. Articles Nos. 1019 and 1020 of the Customs Regulations are amended so that they will read as follows, viz: ART. 1019. Collectors are also required to render a monthly account of transactions in cigar-stamps, debiting themselves with the number of stamps received from the Secretary of the Treasury, and crediting themselves with the number used by cigar inspectors. The account will be accompanied by an abstract from the cigar inspector, showing the number of stamps used during the month, and a statement by the collector of the quantities and values of cigars entered for consumption and duty-paid during the month, with the amounts and kinds of duties. ART. 1020. Collectors, naval officers, and surveyors of the customs are required to make returns of public property in their custody or under their control, as hereinafter provided. The returns will be so prepared as to exhibit the property accounted for in the classes described below, and the articles pertaining to each class should, as far as practicable, be entered in alphabetical order. Returns of the following classes of property will be rendered to the Supervising Architect: Class 1. Buildings of all kinds. Class 2. Lands, with metes and bounds. Class 3. Means of land and water transport. Class 4. Furniture and fixtures. The returns of these four classes of public property will be made quarterly, dating from the last day of the fiscal year. Returns of the following classes of property will be made on the 31st day of December, of each year, to the Secretary of the Treasury: Class 5. Desk furniture. (Letter-presses, seals, inkstands, &c.) Class 7. Gaugers' implements. Class 8. Measurers' implements. Class 9. Boats, and equipments thereof. Class 10. Books. (United States statutes, digests, law and miscellaneous books, Regulations, Synopsis of Decisions, &c.) Class 11. Industrial tools and implements. Class 12. Miscellaneous articles. The returns both to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Supervising Architect will specify the building, as also the bureau, division, or office in which such property may be in use, the number and description of the different articles, date of authority to purchase same, date of purchase, cost, present condition, and the disposition of all articles dropped from the return, with the authority therefor. For the purpose of insuring accuracy and completeness in the stated property returns, returning officers will require sub-returns from each of their subordinates in immediate charge of public property, and such sub-returns will be required to exhibit the articles gained and lost during the time for which they are rendered. All property so to be reported will be charged to and accounted for by the collector or chief customs officer, whose duty it is to make the returns, and such officer, on retiring from office, will be required to forward the receipts, in duplicate, of his successor for the property transferred, in order to close his account. Collectors are required to keep a record of all articles included in their reports of public property, and, upon completing such reports for any given period, to carefully compare the same with said record, and account for all deficiencies. Blank forms of both the quarterly and annual returns will be furnished by the Department.-(Letter to Collector, New York, May 5, 1874.) (1825.) Miniature theaters, &c., manufactured of paper-Duty on. Articles consisting of miniature theaters, &c., manufactured of illuminated printed cards, with doors pasted thereon, and other mechanical devices connected therewith, held to be liable to duty at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem (less 10 per cent.), under the provisions in sections 22 of the act of March 2, 1861, and 13 of the act of July 14, 1862, for "manufactures of paper or of which paper is a component material, not otherwise provided for."—(Letter to Collector, New York, May 12, 1874.) Appeal, 3655 b. (1826.) A brass lecturn imported for a church not entitled to free entry as regalia. A brass lecturn, specially imported for the use of a church, held to be not included within the meaning of the word "regalia" as used in the tariff acts, and therefore not entitled to free entry.-(Letter to Thomas Neilson, Philadelphia, May 12, 1874.) (1827.) Dried natural flowers exempt from duty. Dried natural flowers (immortelles) held to be exempt from duty under the provision in the 5th section of the act of June 6, 1872, for "dried and prepared flowers."—Letter to Collector, New York, May 18, 1874.) Appeal, 3589 b. (1828.) List of passengers, formerly transmitted to the Secretary of State, to be sent to the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics. Attention is called to the act of Congress approved May 7, 1874, relieving collectors from the duty of transmitting to the Secretary of State copies of manifests or returns of passengers arriving in the United States from foreign countries. These returns will hereafter be forwarded to the Bureau of Statistics only, as prescribed in Customs Regulations of 1874, Form No. 29, pp. 463-4. Article 265 of the Regulations is hereby revoked. Reports of the examination of emigrant vessels, required by the 17th section of the act of 1855 to be made to this Department, must, as heretofore, be addressed to the Secretary.—(Circular, May 19, 1874.) (1829.) Silk serges-Duty on. Silk serges which, notwithstanding they contain a slight admixture of cotton, are commercially known as silk goods, held to be liable to duty at the rate of 60 per cent. ad valorem, under the provision in the 8th section of the act of June 30, 1864, for "piece silks."—Letter to Collector, New York, May 23, 1874.) Appeal, 3572 b. (1830.) A charge for interest is not an element of dutiable value of the goods. An item specified in the invoice, and included in the entry, for "interest on draft in settlement," is not an element of the dutiable value of the goods, and is therefore not a dutiable charge under section 9 of the act of July 28, 1866.-(Letter to Collector, New York, May 29, 1874.) Appeal, 5104 b. (1831.) Free goods, forming part of an importation intended for an interior port, may be transported to destination under provisions of act of July 14, 1870. The Department holds that free goods, forming part of an importation, may, on compliance with the Regulations, be forwarded to destination without examination and appraisement, under the provisions of the act of July 14, 1870. The penalty of the bond taken in such cases will be double the value of the goods. (Letter to Collector, Boston, May 29, 1874.) (1832.) Customs accounts-Synopsis No. 1717 revoked. The instructions contained in Circular No. 40, of November 12, 1873 (Synopsis No. 1717), requiring invoices of merchandise, together with the weighers', gaugers', measurers', and appraisers' returns, to be forwarded to the Department with customs accounts, are modified as follows: In lieu of the requirements of the circular in question, officers are instructed in all cases of change of duties by liquidation for value or quantity to cause a memorandum of the return of the appraiser, weigher, gauger, or measurer, from which such change was made, to be indorsed by the liquidating clerk on the entry in such manner as to show the action of the appraiser and the ascerta ned quantities of merchandise. Invoices, after return by the appraiser, are to be filed and kept as records in the collector's office.—(Circular of Commissioner of Customs, December 22, 1873.) TO COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., July 16, 1874. The decisions of the Department upon the construction of the tariff, navigation, and other acts, for the month of June, 1874, are herewith published for the information and guidance of collectors of customs. CHAS. F. CONANT, Acting Secretary. (1833.) Fruits dutiable-Plants, when free of duty. The following act of Congress, approved May 9, 1874, entitled "An act in relation to the customs duty on imported fruits," is published herewith for the information of officers of customs: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to suspend the repayment of all duties heretofore paid on imported fruits until further legislation by Congress authorizing the same, or until the final decision of the Supreme Court, except in cases where suits in court have been discontinued by instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury. And the error in the punctuation of the clause relating to fruit-plants in the 5th section of the act approved June 6, 1872, entitled "An act to reduce duties on imports, and to reduce internal taxes, and for other purposes," of inserting a comma instead of a hyphen after the word "fruit," is hereby corrected, and said clause shall read as follows: Fruit-plants tropical and semi-tropical for the purpose of propagation or cultivation: Provided, That the duties imposed by virtue of this amendment shall not be levied or collected upon fruits entered for consumption at any port of entry prior to July first, 1874. The above act makes two changes in previous laws— 1. Plants, tropical and semi-tropical, having fruit-bearing qualities and intended for propagation or culture, are to be admitted duty-free from and after May 9, 1874. 2. Fruits entered for consumption, from and after the first of July next, are dutiable under the acts of June 6, 1872, and May 9, 1874.— (Circular, May 11, 1874.) |